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Elections office wins court approval for HAVA-funded mail-sorter, poll pads and other equipment; staff defend plan as grant-funded modernization
Summary
Using a $4M HAVA grant, the Elections Administrator secured Commissioners Court approval to buy a mail-ballot sorter (~$461,111), additional poll pads and ballot printers, curbside carts and proprietary USB drives to replace aging tabulation media. Staff said purchases will reduce manual processing time and reliance on temporary workers, and that most items are grant-funded and time-limited.
Bexar County's elections administrator (Michelle Crew) requested and received court approval for several HAVA-grant-funded purchases to modernize vote-by-mail processing and in-person polling operations. The approved items include a mail-ballot sorting/photography system (approx. $461,111), additional accessible curbside carts, extra poll pads and ballot printers for poll locations, and proprietary USB tabulation drives to replace failing 2019-era media.
Crew told commissioners the sorter photographs front and back of ballots, weighs and flags envelopes with multiple ballots, and can sort by ballot style, substantially cutting manual processing time. "This particular sorter will take care of that and cut that amount possibly in time by 50%," she said of mail-ballot processing. Commissioners questioned the long-term plan, the rate of equipment replacement, and the high year-to-year elections spending (largely driven by recent grant dollars). Crew and budget staff said much of the recent spending increase reflects available HAVA and other grants that must be obligat
